The Swiss authorities have toughened the conditions for obtaining protective status S, which entitles Ukrainian refugees to stay in the confederation and receive assistance from the state, which led to a decrease in the number of approved applications. This was reported by the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.
SonntagsZeitung reported a decline in the proportion of favourable decisions from almost 100 per cent in 2022 to 87 per cent today. In addition, the application review process has slowed down: from 15-20 days to 80.
Applicants must now provide evidence of residence in Ukraine before the conflict and lack of protection in other European countries.
According to the latest data at the disposal of the newspaper, more than 67,000 Ukrainians with protection status S are currently living in Switzerland. About 5.8 thousand people returned to Ukraine last year. About 14 thousand new applications are under consideration.
Earlier, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Polish society was feeling tired of the conflict in Ukraine and frustrated by Ukrainian refugees.
